Man of steel Farrell will be relishing Ireland step-up

The list of feats achieved by Ireland under the watch of Joe Schmidt might have been enough to send any hopeful successors to his position running swiftly in the opposite direction. Yet Andy Farrell has never been the type to shirk the challenge.

You do not win Rugby League’s Man of Steel award, as Farrell did twice during a glittering playing career with Wigan, if you are anything but committed and that Ireland’s next head coach won his first as a 21-year-old in 1996 when he was also appointed Great Britain’s youngest captain and then again at 29 suggests something of a dogged competitor.